The damn things have tasted like chalky garbage ever since they moved the production and I hate them in equal proportion to how much I loved them before.posted by The Whelk at 8:54 AM on May 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

(Or did marienbad make a joke, and I missed it myself? Who knows?)posted by Faint of Butt at 8:55 AM on May 4, 2014

Is anyone else really surprised that the fondant actually contains egg? I'd heard that, but assumed it was an untrue factoid and never bothered to check. (Less surprised that three of the five named ingredients are sugars, of course)

Er, neither roosters nor rabbits lay eggs.
They do if they want to keep their jobs at Cadburys.posted by metaBugs at 9:02 AM on May 4, 2014 [8 favorites]

I have loved EC eggs for years - but grew steadily disappointed in the flavour, the shrinking size, and the rising cost. I stopped buying them.

This year I finally found a recipe to make my own and did. It was a bit of work but it allowed me to flavour it the way I like (vanilla, orange, mint, whatever!), use chocolate that I like, and make them any size that I wanted (hint: smaller is better).

I ate one when I was about eight, and still remember how sick I felt after. No way would I try one again. Still neat to see the production process, though.posted by Dip Flash at 9:12 AM on May 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

'Chocolate crumb' sounds like it might be really good just on its own.posted by Flashman at 9:19 AM on May 4, 2014

I'd always figured that they just had a big syringe full of, I dunno, whale semen or something similarly horrible that they inject into the eggs while cackling madly and stroking their moustaches.posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:26 AM on May 4, 2014 [10 favorites]

The really fun process is how After Eight mints are made. The fondant is cast as hard slabs containing starch, then dipped in chocolate containing an enzyme. The enzyme slowly breaks down the starch, turning the centre to minty goo. So yeah, there's basically spit in the mints. (NB: for the benefit of any lawyers reading, there is not spit in the mints. Different enzyme, but same idea.)

I lived half a mile from the Cadbury factory until recently. Snuck into the staff shop, where current and previous staff, and local pensioners, can buy stuff that comes out of the factory cheaply. Took some pictures in there - here's how much they pay per egg (note the weekly purchase limit; a Cadbury cardholder can use their card up to 20 times a week).posted by Wordshore at 9:44 AM on May 4, 2014 [12 favorites]

Where is the step where they add the salmonella drips and not tell anyone about it until they are caught by epidemiologists?posted by srboisvert at 9:45 AM on May 4, 2014

Here's another recipe for those of you playing along at home. (Note: haven't actually tried it, trying to cut back on the insane sugary baking experiments for now.)posted by themadthinker at 9:48 AM on May 4, 2014

Faint of Butt, yeah, it was meant as a slightly sarcastic/pedantic joke. whosshes all round today.posted by marienbad at 10:51 AM on May 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

This feels like something that should never have been made public, just like how they get the caramel in the Caramilk bar.

I figured that out when I was eight. Filling chocolates is an incredibly simple process that dates back at least a century and a half.

Yes, of course it's obvious how they fill the Caramilk bar. But I saw those commercials all my childhood and I know it is hidden knowledge that is not meant ever to be public.posted by jeather at 11:13 AM on May 4, 2014

The hacker one, from 1988, I can still recite word for word. I'm sure even Terry O'Riley would agree that that was a great campaign.posted by Flashman at 11:38 AM on May 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

As a kid, Cadbury's world is the greatest theme park ever.

I've been on that factory tour and the best thing is the smell. I imagine someone will tell me it's fake and wafted in artificially now, but the whole place from the car park onwards really does smell of chocolate. Which is more evocative of kid-dream fantasy than anything...posted by colie at 12:15 PM on May 4, 2014

Here's how.

Makes sense once you see it. Just do it fast enough and neither side will have time to run out.

I also love how when they are extracting from the molds, they twist them like giant ice cube trays.posted by RobotHero at 12:30 PM on May 4, 2014

the best thing is the smell

I currently live on Bournville Lane in Birmingham. When the wind is in the right direction, you can smell Cadbury's chocolate in my back garden.posted by howfar at 12:50 PM on May 4, 2014 [3 favorites]

I love Cadbury Creme Eggs. I miss them terribly. There was a recipe on how to make vegan ones floating on the Internet a couple of years ago, but I never tried it.posted by Kitteh at 1:25 PM on May 4, 2014

They're laid by Creme Chickens of course.posted by jonmc at 1:40 PM on May 4, 2014

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